Ode to Travel with Patrick Trefz

[00:00:00] Tyler: Hello, and welcome to Swell Season Surf Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Brewer. Patrick Treves is a chef, a painter and filmmaker. His work has been featured in the New York Times, the Surfer's Journal, Juxtapose magazine, Vogue, and many others.

[00:00:19] Trev's four length documentaries, Thread, Idiosyncrasies, Surfer's Blood, and Man in the Field have received widespread critical acclaim and recognition in international film festivals. He has published three books of photography, Visions of Surf City, Thread, and Surfer's Blood. His work focuses on deep sense of place and identity by way of environment.

[00:00:45] Through his films and photos, he thoroughly integrates himself in the worlds he captures. Born in Dusseldorf, Germany, Treves was well situated for a career in photography. His father was a studio [00:01:00] photographer for Vogue in the 1970s and 80s. Treves spent long hours as a teen absorbing and creating his own still life sets.

[00:01:09] His proximity to and hours spent as a youth in the studio made Treves aware of the attention to detail and the professionalism of a working photographer. But, for a youth more interested in graffiti and skateboarding, studio work felt stifling, so Trevz hit the road. Over the years, Trevz became known for his work ethic and technical mastery of photography.

[00:01:35] His harder to define aesthetic sensibilities often contrasted many of the surf photographers at the time, who were more bright and color saturated. curated to sell a dream. Whereas Trev's works were often in darker tones. His surf films offered glimpses of grittier reality. And in his latest project, Ode to Travel, Trev's travels [00:02:00] from Tunis to Chopu, Stornoway, To Selena Cruz, New York to Berlin, Sao Paolo and Paris, mixing the metropolitan and the deeply rural by bringing food and culture from across the globe into this latest book of recipes and photography. Ode to Travel captures Trev's innate ability as a traveler to become part of the scenes he finds himself in, not merely as an observer, But as a participant, connecting landscape and seascape, people and food, ode to Travel celebrates a worldview of a globe deeply layered, how cultures define communities from the ground and the sea in the form of its food and traditions and the simple pleasures that bring color to living. The book includes thirty five recipes from the places Trev's has come to know intimately. Each recipe that is [00:03:00] included is an invitation to experience the local communities through their flavors and traditions.

[00:03:06] Transcribed Ode to Travel is his third title with Powerhouse Books, and he is here with us at the Newsstand Studio at Rockefeller Center. Patrick, welcome to Swell Season again. Good to have you back.

[00:03:18] patrick Trefz: Yeah, thanks for having me again, Tyler. Good to see you.

[00:03:20] Tyler: Great to see you, sir. So, uh, listeners, this book is absolutely stunning. Uh, I, uh, I'm looking at it right now and, um, this is just gorgeous, like beautifully bound, beautiful photos. It's a really wonderful layout. Uh, Patrick, like I love how everything is formatted. You have, you know, the destination, you have this anecdotal story.

[00:03:48] The imagery and then the recipe that comes with it and it's, it's beautiful and this packaging is, is great too. You were, you were just talking before we got on like, like how you got [00:04:00] it bound. I mean, this is definitely unique. Like it's a lot different than what I've seen out

[00:04:04] there.

[00:04:05] patrick Trefz: Thanks Tyler. Yeah. The, the reason why we picked the, uh, Japanese binding style so the recipe pages can lay wide open as you're

[00:04:13] Tyler: cooking so the pages don't flap, you know, back and forth.

[00:04:17] That's nice. Yeah. So, what I wanted to talk, I mean, like, honestly, like, I think we have to start at the beginning of this book, you know, in your intro and what was, You know, the, the ideation for Ode to Travel, like how it came about because it's, it's so, it's such an interesting story that's in the book, um, but it, I think it, I'd love to kind of explore that a little more.

[00:04:42] So talk us through, like how you kind of started coming, coming about with this book because it is, it comes from a lot of multiple kind of tragic events that were happening in the world.

[00:04:53] patrick Trefz: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Sure. So. Um, I've been taking photos like you mentioned in the intro, you know, like through the influence of [00:05:00] my dad as, you know, from an early age.

[00:05:01] So I took trips, you know, when I was 16 to Tunisia by myself and took, you know, 30 rolls of old expired film and traveled all over the place. And I kept on doing that for a long time and, and, uh, fast forward all the way to the COVID era. Um, I worked, you know, I worked for surfer magazine, you know, for a couple of decades too, and, and, and I had a.

[00:05:28] I had an enormous amount of photography in my darkroom. I had analog, negatives, you know, uh, slides, 120, 4x5, you know, large format, everything. But as I was moving forward to make movies, like Man in the Field and other projects, I never really gave that stuff the time of day. I was always kind of like snuffing it.

[00:05:47] It took up so much space and I'm like, what am I going to do with this, this old stuff? You know, it's like, I have no interest in it. I want to move like forward, right?

[00:05:54] Tyler: Did you, did you, do you like, I feel like a lot of photographers, like. A lot of times look back [00:06:00] on their old work and they're just like, they kind of poo poo it almost in some ways.

[00:06:04] patrick Trefz: In, in a way that happens because I got more into filmmaking and that, that was a priority for me. And, um, yeah, somehow like the whole over, like, uh, what you say, like the, the wave of like, Digital imagery that kind of like came over us as photographers made it like really unappealing to, to work in photography.

[00:06:26] And I had no interest in like picking up a digital photography. And hence I switched over to filmmaking and storytelling it in that way. But then when COVID happened, um, I was in my old house in Santa Cruz, this big old barn, you know, In the middle of nowhere in the mountains. And, uh, there was a couple of events that happened.

[00:06:44] First it was COVID, which was pretty darn depressing, uh, like being up there in the middle of nowhere in the rain. And, uh,

[00:06:52] Tyler: Like how far are you from, from anyone like your place?

[00:06:56] patrick Trefz: I mean, it's, it's feels like it's the middle of nowhere, but it's like, let's [00:07:00] say like it's only like 20 minutes out of town. Yeah.

[00:07:02] But like half an hour to the lane, but like steamer lane, a surf spot. But you

[00:07:07] Tyler: can't just walk it like, you can't walk it.

[00:07:08] patrick Trefz: Yeah. It's like country roads. Yeah. So it kind of feels isolated. You just, all you see is just like giant trees and you might as well be in like in the middle of nowhere in like Washington or something like that.

[00:07:18] That's how it looks like. Yeah. Which is really cool. Right. It's, it's a nice place, place to be creative. But then during COVID I was, um, well, first things first. So, so what happened in 2020, I went through the beginning of COVID, you know, lockdown, the whole nine yard and. Up at the place, you know, then we're allowed to go surfing.

[00:07:40] That was fine. And then all of a sudden in the, in the middle of summer, this huge lightning storm came through and this really never happens on the West coast. You know, there's no rain in the summer. It's bone dry, right? And it came through just all night long. Like they, they counted some like 11, 000, like lightning bullets hitting like the Santa Cruz [00:08:00] area.

[00:08:01] And the next day these huge fires engulfed and we had to evacuate. Like we had to, um, yeah, we had to like run out of town basically because it was a mandatory evacuation at that place. And we went all the way up to Mendocino to stay there for a couple of weeks. Yeah. To, uh, deal with my, um, to stay with my good friend, Dr.

[00:08:23] John Osborne. He took us in, we brought a dog and a cat, and that was pretty, uh, traumatic for everyone involved, right? Yeah. And then, after a while, they, um, lifted off. The, um,

[00:08:38] Tyler: the, uh, the ban, like to go back or the ban, right?

[00:08:42] patrick Trefz: So we were able to go back to the house and then COVID sort of like continued, right?

[00:08:47] And it was pretty dark times. Uh, there's a breakup in the relationship and then, and then it went into like winter and like I couldn't travel home because there's still travel bans to see my family in Europe. So I wasn't able to [00:09:00] see, you know, my folks and, uh, and then like, uh, I think on the, on the 1st of January, 2021.

[00:09:08] I kind of had this thing, I was like, man, I gotta, I gotta get out of my funk, I gotta do something right. And I, like a madman, I started, like, getting into my dark room. I had a new appreciation that the stuff didn't burn down. Yeah. And I'm like, why don't I make a travel book with all my travel since I can't travel, right?

[00:09:23] So I can kind of dive into it and go back through the times. And, uh, and yeah, I started just, like, taking photos with my iPhone over the, um, Of the slides and the negatives over the light, the light table. Yeah. And I sent him to Daniel Power, powerhouse. And like within days, like I sent him probably like 150 images.

[00:09:43] And he's like, that sounds like a great concept. Let's do it. Right. So, uh, I started scanning, like in a serious matter, you know, I scanned something, scanned something like 15, 000 slides. And,

[00:09:53] Tyler: uh, it's pretty wild. How, how, how long does it take to scan a slide right now? I mean, [00:10:00] it's, it's

[00:10:00] patrick Trefz: slow as beep. It's like, you know, when you have a flatbed scanner, right?

[00:10:05] Yeah. And, and it takes like, like, I mean, let's say, yeah. Anyways, like, like a large format slide takes about like three, four minutes to like import. And then, you know, I had a longtime assistant of mine, uh, Lauren, and, uh, yeah, she, we did a lot together, just in that old barn of mine, freezing in the winter, just having the heaters cranking, making fires, like, and, um, but then at the same time, too, like, as I was scanning all this stuff, obviously in the evening I had to eat, and this whole idea, like, came out, I don't know, like, You know, cook a recipe for each country.

[00:10:40] Yeah. And I have this like amazing, like outdoor grill that, that I had custom built and it's, um, yeah, it's this piece of metal and you just make a large fire underneath it and it was cooking all kinds of foods, right. And then documented and photographing it. And then I'd be like, Oh, like. Looking at my country's like what country should I like cook for today?

[00:10:59] Mm [00:11:00] hmm and I went to the market and I bought all the goods and like kind of like hooked up with my good friends the H& H fish is a Fishmonger out of Santa Cruz and and he sponsored me all the seafood So that was amazing. And I always had, and that was like a time of like opening also culturally

[00:11:19] Tyler: sponsored you with food, with seafood.

[00:11:22] You know this, I think you have an angle here that pro surfers haven't explored yet. Well, since there's

[00:11:29] patrick Trefz: no more like surf industry, you might as well get a food sponsor and

[00:11:31] yeah,

[00:11:34] patrick Trefz: that was amazing. And, and it was cool too, because then. I had all this food and then, you know, the world was opening up and we could be outside and, and, and, and having dinner parties.

[00:11:43] So, like, you know, multiple nights a week, we'd just be cooking outside and just living it up and, and, and making, like, You know, from anything you've seen in the books, you know, like, uh, from, yeah, like, like a whole, um, whole lamb, like a whole lamb, but, uh, with [00:12:00]David Kinch, uh, he helped me to cut it up. We are like, and then we did, uh, uh, Simone Umo, like an underground oven, had the stuff in there for like 16 hours.

[00:12:11] And I invited all these people over and then, but what happened that day, I don't know if that's very, um, funny for anyone else, but I couldn't get a hold of my friends because my phone disappeared into the oven as we like my friend Jeff Larkin and I were like, we, we shot it down in the middle of the night and it's like 1130 and we had all the fire going and, and he's like, let's go, it's raining.

[00:12:34] Let's shut this thing. Like, and, and we're like putting all the, like, you know, sacks on it and the metal and the earth and. And then we're finally done and I'm like, I'm like, cool, this is great. And I'm like, hey, whoa, you see my phone, Jeff? He's like, it's probably in the oven. And so the very next day, like three in the afternoon, we dug the whole thing up.

[00:12:53] And the first thing, like, Jeff hit something like metal. with the shovel and you put it, it's like, Whoa, Patrick, your phone is [00:13:00] here and it's working.

[00:13:02] Tyler: That's crazy. How was the flavor of the phone? Did you find it to be a very rich experience? Was it chock full of social media bits?

[00:13:13] patrick Trefz: It was, it smelled kind of raunchy.

[00:13:14] So when I went to the store and people gave me dirty looks.

[00:13:20] Tyler: But during COVID, it seemed like you, you got more into your cooking too before that even, right? Like, cause you had nowhere to go. Right. And I remember looking at your social media posts and seeing like gorgeous photos of you cooking and things you were preparing and I was like, Ooh, I kind of want to get in on this, you know, and I was waiting for you to start like a cooking ASMR YouTube channel.

[00:13:45] patrick Trefz: Yeah, I didn't I haven't made it to TikTok yet. Um, but yeah, it was, I mean, You know, I always like was into cooking. Like I was like, watch my mom cook and like help her in the kitchen when I was young and I was loving it. And then I worked in restaurants when it, [00:14:00] when I was, uh, you know, a teenager and I did the cold kitchen and I did, you know, like.

[00:14:04] Whatever worked my way up into the system and then, um, just traveling. I really, you know, got into like different cultures, like, you know, from a young age and, and, and, and seeing what's out there. And it, I was always curious about it and there was like, sort of like, you know, back then it wasn't like really invoke, I just, I just dug it, you know?

[00:14:21] It's like, yeah. And then, and then getting into like kitchen lifestyle and like hanging with the crew and just. Having a good time and cooking stuff up and, you know, cracking jokes and such.

[00:14:30] I

[00:14:30] Tyler: can't help but have, you know, your, your relationship with Jim Denevan also, uh, helped kind of foster this to us or, or help point you in a certain direction.

[00:14:41] patrick Trefz: For sure. I mean, I think the Jim thing was kind of like it was meant to be that that we kind of work together

[00:14:46] Tyler: Yeah,

[00:14:47] patrick Trefz: obviously we grew up in two different continents, but like somehow we we met through food You know,

[00:14:53] Tyler: can you can you give our listeners like a bit of a just who Jim Denevan is? You know and your relationship [00:15:00] to him and listeners like if you've I've been listening to Swell Season 4.

[00:15:03] We have a wonderful episode with Jim and Patrick discussing their film. But uh, yeah, if you can, like just give, give a quick little, uh, you know, hang on Jim.

[00:15:12] patrick Trefz: Yeah. Jim Denevan. He's like, uh, um, Jim Denevan from Santa Cruz, California is a land artist and also a, let me start this again. Jim Denevan is the founder of Outstanding in the Field.

[00:15:27] And he creates these giant dinners with huge tables on, on farms and, uh, you know, like urban sites and. And, uh, brings in chefs from all over the world. When I first met Jim, he hired me, I think, to shoot a piece on him that later on ran in the Surface Journal. Yeah. That's when I first met Jim Denevan. And he creates these, like, humongously big Art pieces, land art, um, sand, desert, ice, whatever.

[00:15:58] But then he's also an amazing [00:16:00] chef, and uh, he created a food program that's called Outstanding the Field, where he puts giant tables out all over the country or the world and invites guests, and uh, it's an amazing happening. So, yeah, we kind of became friends over that.

[00:16:19] Tyler: Um, yeah. And then like, I want to kind of go back a little and explore though, how difficult was it, like you are a nomadic person, you, you spend your winters in Santa Cruz, you, you document the surf and, and what other things that are going on around there.

[00:16:38] Right. And then for summer, you tend to fly off to some exotic location. And how difficult was that for you? Like. Being locked down and not being able to move and what, you know, what did that do for you mentally? How did that affect you?

[00:16:58] patrick Trefz: Yeah, it definitely drove me kind of [00:17:00] nuts Not being able to travel and and just kind of being on a lockdown situation Yeah, actually like in the summertime like, you know We talked about like Santa Cruz gets flat and foggy, you know The winter's the good time to surf and and I get yeah um But but what really kind of saved my ass was that I started to do and um Like a sunrise yoga meditation, I would like drive up in the morning before sunrise, above the fog line, found a little spot, faced east, you know, looked at the sunrise, you know, started like blinking with my eyeballs and like getting, getting all into it and, and, and maybe there was a different time in my life.

[00:17:38] I would have said that's, you know, whatever. But, um, it, it really was a kind of like a. like a lifesaver, you know, that it helped me to, to keep a straight line and like to deal, to deal with the whole COVID situation and, and, uh, get into shape. And, and the great thing was We did actually have a really great summer after all.

[00:17:59] [00:18:00] So all I would do is do sunrise salutations in the morning, cook a really nice breakfast, drive up to coast, serve all afternoon, come back, make dinner, take photos of it and do it again. I probably did that for like 250 days or something like that. Oh my gosh. And then the bill came from my parents.

[00:18:20] Mortgage thing, which I didn't pay because I didn't have any income during the time. And they almost got my house, but magically I saved it. How did you save it? I, it is, it's a whole another story, but like, we're on

[00:18:33] Tyler: a podcast here. We have plenty of time for that. So this, um,

[00:18:37] patrick Trefz: somebody contacted me out of the blue, right?

[00:18:39] Yeah. And this person was like, Hey, look, I, I want to, I see that your, your house is on the market for rent, you know, fully furnished, et cetera, et cetera. So I'm like, yeah. Um, definitely. And, and she's like, well, I was interested if I pay you ahead of time, you know, maybe you can give me a small discount. I'm like, oh yeah, we [00:19:00] can, we can work that out.

[00:19:01] Right. And it was like for a whole year. And, and then she told me the number and it happened to have my paperwork for my, the bank statement, you know, in, in those exactly the same amount that I needed. It's crazy. Yeah. I just like. Went right through it and saved the home, you know? Wow. That was amazing. And where'd you end up going then?

[00:19:23] Well, I don't know if we want to get, we may cut this out, but No, we don't have to cut it out. I always ran at the big barn from Boogie Bill, right? It's like this Open ass fucking barn structure where it's like hot in the summer, cold in the winter, you know, no, no central heating, no nothing, you know, but the outdoors are great.

[00:19:41] But then I bought a house years ago and I've been renting it out and I remodeled it and I totally went overboard and super nice. It's like way too nice for me. So I've been renting it out over the years. But then, yeah, like with, with the no income thing, there was like a weird, you know, Yeah. Overcutting type of situation.

[00:19:58] And, and, uh, yeah, I almost lost [00:20:00] it, but luckily everything came together, you know.

[00:20:02] Tyler: That's crazy. So, this book, like, I wanted to know, like, the thing that I saw, you know, in it is like, how do you, How do you pick the recipe to represent a place and culture? Like, how do you edit that out? Because there's so many dishes that can represent a certain place or a certain group of people.

[00:20:28] And I was curious, like, how you went about that process. Like, what was it that made these dishes in the book stand out for you? Because they're not Some of them are obvious. And some are not so obvious, like, like your one in, uh, Australia, I thought was the, the jalapeno pasta. I was like expecting a meat pie, because you even talk about the meat pie, and then all of a sudden you start to talk about Italian migrants and, you know, and I thought that was fascinating how you kind[00:21:00] of took a little bit of attack there and just didn't go with the, the, the obvious type of choices.

[00:21:06] patrick Trefz: Yeah, a lot of times I, you know, wanted to stray away from the obvious. Just because it, it made more sense for me to, Australia, I can't really, sorry, Australia. I can't really like, I don't like meat pies. I don't like any of the food that I ever had in Australia. I just can't stand it, right? It's like the worst ever.

[00:21:28] Tyler: Sorry, mates. Oh, you don't like, uh, rue meat or, uh, prawns on the barbie? I mean, I eat

[00:21:34] patrick Trefz: prawns on a barney, but I thought it was a little boring to use that as a recipe. But as I. Also wanted to like there's a couple of like recipes that I really love from like an early You know, stage on where I worked in different restaurants.

[00:21:49] I worked as one restaurant called and, uh, Düsseldorf called Olio. And they came up with this like amazing, like jalapeno pasta. It's like a two part sauce. And it has, you know, by, by [00:22:00] having the, the oil with the, the, the fried jalapenos in it with the garlic, and then you mix it with the marinara, marinara that was cooked for like 12 hours and you grind that together with some parsley, and then you pour it over the, the, the pasta right away.

[00:22:15] It's one of the most amazing pasta dishes I ever made. Wow. And who, one of my good friends, Andrew Kidman, who is a vegetarian, and Michelle Lockwood, who's from here in New York. I figured if there's a fitting recipe that kind of like brings the immigration story of, Right. Um, them together, obviously Australia is a land of immigrants.

[00:22:38] Michelle Lockwood grew up here in New York City and she ended up moving with Andrew to Australia, in the middle of nowhere to live in Yuki on this beautiful ranch. And they only eat vegetarian, right? And I cooked it for them once while I was there. Yeah. So it made a lot of sense to have something that, that they sort of like reflect with their immigration backstory, but [00:23:00] then also have something that, that's vegetarian and, and it's, yeah, it's very un Australian.

[00:23:04] Yeah. Yeah. It's a personal story that. Kind of goes across across the globe because you know that the whole globe is like, you know immigrating at all times Absolutely.

[00:23:16] Tyler: I mean it was it was really cool Like I really enjoyed seeing a lot of these recipes and like I can't wait to cook a whole bunch of them to be honest like You know, they're they're there's it's they're definitely not there.

[00:23:33] They're kind of of the area, but they're also not totally Transcribed You know, like, like the one of the one of the dishes I was really curious about was the Like you got almost like two recipes for the Basque region, which I find Interesting everywhere else has like one recipe

[00:23:51] patrick Trefz: right the basket split up.

[00:23:52] Yeah, we have the French Basque and we yeah

[00:23:55] Tyler: Yeah, it's like you're what sneaky way of sneak, you know, putting in like your favorite [00:24:00] place probably to be To eat at least.

[00:24:03] patrick Trefz: Well, it's yeah, they sort of you know, the Basque Country You They have the North Basque, which is the French part, and the South Basque, that's what I titled it in the book.

[00:24:11] They certainly have different styles. I would say that maybe the Basque part in the North is definitely heavily French influenced. Yeah. Where the kind of like mountainous Basque style is, just has their own little identity, you know, that doesn't really, is not really created anywhere else in Spain. Mm hmm.

[00:24:35] So, um, yeah, my favorite thing about the, the Spanish bass part is the, um, sal de bodaga, which is, uh, a broth, beef broth, and you see it in the restaurants. There's little signs hanging, and it says sal de bodaga, it means we got broth. Yeah. And it's like That's the literal translation, right? That's the literal translation, right?

[00:24:55] And you can order, like, you know, like a cup of soup. with some bread, [00:25:00] it's like, you know, two bucks, three bucks, and it's like a, you know, kind of like a low cost meal and

[00:25:06] Tyler: it's really good for you. What goes into that meal? Describe it for our listeners. Bring them into the kitchen here when you're making this.

[00:25:14] patrick Trefz: So, like, obviously with broths you can either do fish bone, chicken bone, I mean, Yeah, fish bones, chicken bone or, um, beef, beef bones, lamb bones were great too. And, and, uh, in this case, in the book, I had a bone broth recipe from, from the cow. And I just, um, started with like the aromatics, like onions, carrots, uh, garlic, bay leaves, and um, cook down the bones for about like eight hours, 12 hours, and sometimes overnight.

[00:25:49] And, um, yeah, you re, you re, uh, you reduce the whole thing and, and, um. Yeah, it's super amazing, um, just to drink that pure broth, you know, [00:26:00] it wakes up dead people, you know, that's pretty nuts.

[00:26:02] Tyler: Kelly Slater is a big fan of bone broth, so there you go. Because he cooks his own, that was the question. Well, that's a good question, I don't know.

[00:26:10] Next time you see him, ask him. Do you Like, then how, how did these chapters come together? Were you looking at the photos first, photos first, and then the recipe? What, what was that process like? Yeah, I got a

[00:26:25] patrick Trefz: good one here. So I went to Japan a while back ago on this, uh, My friend Brian Verner from Santa Cruz, shout out, he works with the Bicycle Film Festival in Brent Barber.

[00:26:38] So he hired me once to come along on this bike trip through Japan. Wow. And it was definitely a pretty amazing time. You know, I didn't get to surf, but that's okay. But you got to bike. I was hanging out of a van on the side of the Oh, you weren't biking, filming all these bikers. Oh, I thought you

[00:26:58] Tyler: were like on the bike [00:27:00] too, going

[00:27:01] No,

[00:27:01] patrick Trefz: that was the filmmaker's side of me. But yeah, I was just a hired gun. But, um, and it was a great trip. We went all over the place in Japan and, and did a load of driving and, uh, got to see different parts. So I had all these images from the, from the trip that I never got to use with anything else. Yeah.

[00:27:20] And then. It brings it back to my ex girlfriend's Japanese grandma, Bachan, that I had this photo from. That I integrated in all the Japanese photos. She's from Lodi, California. And I remember every time we'd go to our house for like a Sunday brunch, um, we get this like egg custard thing. And I was thought as.

[00:27:46] Kind of weird but kind of cool. But yeah, you know, the stereotype is like you expect sushi or something like that. Yeah. Yeah That's like a Western mind But then years later when I was creating these recipes and like like I'm not a [00:28:00] sushi maker guy Like I can't do this. It's way too difficult You know, I mean you can make this simple style but like to really like honor the Japanese culture.

[00:28:08] That's a whole different ritual, right?

[00:28:09] Tyler: Absolutely.

[00:28:10] patrick Trefz: So then I remember her shabang mushi recipe And, uh, when Santa Cruz is pretty isolated, there's, besides, yeah, there's, there's not too many different cultures. So I drove all the way over Highway 17 to San Jose. Mm hmm. I have a tiny, like, little Japan town.

[00:28:26] Nice. And I wrote down all the, I looked it up online. I, I wrote down all the different recipes to make this, uh, shabamushi dish. And, uh, luckily I had a friend of mine help me, but it was, it was, uh, just a, a custard that takes about, uh, Multiple hours to make . And it tasted really good. And you know, you kind of decorate it with some, uh, you know, things like, lemme see what did, what are these called?

[00:28:54] Is it,

[00:28:55] Tyler: it's savory.

[00:28:56] patrick Trefz: Is that Aura? Aura, yeah. Yeah, [00:29:00] like, yeah, yeah, we dropped out, you know, uh, drop some meda on it and then, and some mushrooms and couple things and yeah, it was, it was, it was like a beautiful dish, but probably the easiest Japanese. Uh, meal that I could think of and, and, and give it, you know.

[00:29:14] Tyler: Did your ex like, uh, have an issue with you lifting her grandmother's recipe and food? No. I don't think she knows. Now she does. I don't think she listens to this. But maybe her

[00:29:26] patrick Trefz: brother Pat. Hey Pat, how's it going? One

[00:29:28] thing

[00:29:31] Tyler: I noticed, like, there were no real desserts in the book. Yeah, you know what? What?

[00:29:35] You know Sweet Tooth? I'm not a dessert guy. You're not a dessert guy. You're not a Sweet Tooth guy, huh? You know

[00:29:38] patrick Trefz: what? I could, I like an espresso.

[00:29:43] Tyler: I was, I was like, Oh, okay. Are we going to have some sweets on this? No, this is full savory. This book, uh, you need like a bottle of water to go with it.

[00:29:52] patrick Trefz: Well, I mean, you know, there's, there's plenty of, um, you know, chocolate, like different wines and, you know, all kinds of [00:30:00] stuff.

[00:30:00] But yeah, no, it's, uh. I'm not a dessert guy, but speaking of beer, I got a, did you see the Irish one? Yes,

[00:30:08] Tyler: the, the, the, um, you've got the Guinness, uh, Guinness, uh, stew, right?

[00:30:14] patrick Trefz: Yeah, Guinness stew for sure. Here's the page.

[00:30:17] Tyler: Oh man. It's so stunning.

[00:30:19] patrick Trefz: And, and that was a trippy, uh, journey I was on.

[00:30:24] Tyler: Was this when you went with, with Tom and his dad to Ireland?

[00:30:29] patrick Trefz: That was Rob Gilley. Right. I wish I was on that trip. But, I think I was inspired by that trip. Yeah. And, 2001 we went to the Hebrides with Kidman, Skip Frye, Derrick Hynde, uh, the Kearns. All kinds of people, and I really got interested in that zone, right? Yeah. And, uh, I think a year later I went, I went to Ireland by myself.

[00:30:51] Mm hmm. I had some jobs in Europe, and, and they had, back then it was Shannon Airport. You can fly from SFO to Shannon, which is right up the coast. Mm hmm. And then I continued to [00:31:00] wherever I was going to do, uh, Germany, or France, or Spain. I don't know, whatever, like, assignments I had. Yeah. But then, uh, yeah, I spent like 10 days.

[00:31:09] I think I talked about it in this chapter right here in the book and, uh, had a tiny rental car, had like two boards. I just stuffed them in and I was like, driving like through like finding these nooks and crannies and, and, and just had a great, like, like solo, very lonely, but like beautiful, like road trip.

[00:31:27] And yeah, yeah, it was, uh, it was, it was a really fun trip. And, and most of the restaurants were closed because it was October. And, and back then as 20 years ago, like Ireland wasn't as popular. So there was no, like, you can buy like maybe like a. Snickers or Twix bar somewhere, you know? But there's no food anywhere.

[00:31:44] Yeah. And I go to the pub, I'm like, I'm like, hey, you guys, no food, huh? They're like, no food. Uh, I'm like, oh, really? That's kind of strange. Yeah, it's off season. And so I spend like three nights at this cottage and uh, I served this, like, kill away by myself [00:32:00] and, and just, it was like pretty much survival and like, like Guinness and, and Snickers.

[00:32:06] Tyler: So Snickers in the recipe for the, uh, the stew? Definitely not. That was the great Irish famine. But then the

[00:32:14] patrick Trefz: great Irish famine got me so bad that's when I was, you know, at, at home in Santa Cruz and, and I wanted to make something really hearty to make sure I'm not leaving starving, right? Mm hmm. And then, uh, that's how I developed this.

[00:32:28] You know, the stew with the Guinness.

[00:32:31] Tyler: Dude, is there, like, a through line or a common, commonality with all these recipes? Like, what, is there anything that you noticed or see that, like, kinda threads through all of them?

[00:32:47] patrick Trefz: I think the only thread is that I just have a huge appetite for pizza. Cuisine from all over the world and like within the way I travel and I can like adapt to a country [00:33:00] I think the same way I can look at recipes and adapt to a place and like put myself in that position and trying to understand it and Try to go with the traditions.

[00:33:09] And, but then again, at the same time too, it's somewhat of an experiment, right? So, you know, some of these dishes, uh, they're definitely freestyle them where like other ones, uh, have more of a traditional line. Like for example, the, the French boy, a base, um, that, that is obviously, you know, traditional that's been around for hundreds of years.

[00:33:31] Yeah. And, and I kind of copied that to the T but what was really nice is as you see in that photograph, uh, of the two fish heads and the aromatics. I make my own broth before I even get to put all the other stuff in. And it, the, the, um, the outcome is, it's, it's great. Uh, just so enriching and, and fun.

[00:33:51] Tyler: See, I was thinking probably one of the through lines on a lot of these is, is time and the amount of [00:34:00] time that you need to spend making these dishes.

[00:34:04] Like these don't feel like dishes you just do. quickly throw together for the most part. Maybe, maybe the Poisson Cru, maybe. That's probably like one of the fastest dishes, I think. Right. The Tahitian. Yeah. Yeah. You know, like that's probably like the fastest dish you could throw together in this book.

[00:34:20] Everything else is like slow cooking, like proper, like you're, you're making your own base. You're making all the stuff. Like you're not trying to, you know, make it a quick fix. Like this is something that is slow. And I think that's something that is inherent also with a lot of these cultures from all the places where it's, it's a slow process.

[00:34:42] It's not meant to be fast. It's meant to take the whole day or a few days, even, you know, and I, and I You know, how much of that, like, played into your idea of it all?

[00:34:55] patrick Trefz: Yeah, I think for me it was like, I wasn't really thinking about the effort that it [00:35:00] took. Yeah. It was, I was kind of like running on intuition.

[00:35:03] Yeah. And like, sometimes I would improvise things, you know? Like, um, Pacific Northwest, Canada, you know? Yeah. Like, all these areas to have, they're abundant. You know, they have a lot of seafood and fish and mussels. And Yeah. I just, you know, threw a dish together that I thought made sense, um, but it's not a traditional dish by any means.

[00:35:29] And then He's Yeah? Yeah. And then other, like, other dishes that I created were more based on, like, you know, let's say like a bouillabaisse or stuff like that.

[00:35:39] Tyler: Do you, do you foresee yourself, like, doing book tours with this and, like, you know, Cooking along with it, like is, do you, do you want to cook for people at all with this?

[00:35:53] Or are you more like, I just like to cook for myself, like what's

[00:35:57] patrick Trefz: I mean, I, I wouldn't say like cook for [00:36:00] myself, but I cook for myself and all my friends. Yeah. And then, you know, some evenings you just cook for yourself, of course, you gotta eat, right? Yeah. But to answer your question, I think, I think it'd be fun.

[00:36:11] I think I'm, um, going to do a, an event with, uh, South by Southwest at Food Tank. Really? And I'm going to have my books out and, and, and create, you know, some, some dishes out there. Wow. So that's, that's going to be fun. And Yeah. Yeah. And then I think the goal is Yeah, to take this thing on the road and do some fun events, you know, with some of my chef friends and, and uh, maybe get some musicians involved and just have a good time, go surfing, whatever.

[00:36:37] Make a film out of it. And then that's, that's, that's a good idea, Tyler. I think the idea is to, uh, make like a, um, make like a mini, uh, episodical documentary about meeting all these friends that I made over the years. And you know, not in a way I'm, Hey, look, give him my book, you have my book, but like kind of like.[00:37:00]

[00:37:00] Picking them up where we left off with the book and then like a Ramon Navarro in Chile, right? Yeah, we made some amazing food while I was there and his dad is a killer fisherman And

[00:37:09] Tyler: isn't doesn't his mom like make incredible empanadas exactly right like that's like a real bit real You know, traditional thing there too.

[00:37:18] Totally. Like I remember being down there and everyone's like, Oh, you got to try Ramon Navarro's mom's empanadas. And I'm like, is it baked or fried? That's my thing. I think it's baked. Yeah. Baked, baked empanadas all day long for me. Fried, it's just too. I can't. Not as, I mean, I can, but I'd rather not. And yeah, his, his story is

[00:37:38] patrick Trefz: amazing too.

[00:37:39] Like when, back in the day when I met him, he was just a shy kid that, you know, he wasn't like a, you know, well known like sponsor, a surfer yet. Yeah. And somehow I got connected with the whole thing. But yeah, visiting, going back, you know, to the Chile, like he's a prime example, you know, go fishing, go spearfishing with his dad, you know, maybe go like, you know, Um, [00:38:00] in the hinterlands and, and talk about like the environmental work that Ramon is doing now, like through Patagonia and, and really like putting a signal out there, like trying to help the environment.

[00:38:11] And what's funny because a good friend of mine, Alfredo Escobar, he used to have a magazine called, uh, Marijana. I remember that. I remember that. Yeah. Right. And he was a good, he became good friends. Some of the Garaways in Santa Cruz, Pete Garaway from Bicycle Trip. His family brought over, um, Alfredo. And I helped him to get housings from Cobitich, you know, so he can like develop like his skills in the water, water shots and long story short, the mom of Alfredo Escobar had a big influence on Ramon Navarro because she was the one that was responsible for getting the, um, what's his name?

[00:38:51] Uh, the guy from, uh, North Face.

[00:38:54] Tyler: Oh, um, the, the dog, um. Right. The, the, the [00:39:00] guy who founded North Face, sorry, , right? Yeah. Doug

[00:39:04] patrick Trefz: Haken or something? No. What's his,

[00:39:06] Tyler: yeah, I'll look it up real quick.

[00:39:15] um, Doug Tompkins. Doug, right.

[00:39:17] patrick Trefz: So, Alfredo Escobar's mom was one of the most hated women in Chile because she wanted to stop the deer, uh, deforestation, deforestation of the south. And, uh, she teamed up with Doug Tompkins from, um, north Face. And, and, uh, also with, uh, the

[00:39:39] Tyler: Patagonia.

[00:39:40] Yvon Chouinard.

[00:39:41] patrick Trefz: And also with Yvon Chouinard, uh, founder of Patagonia, and they really, you know, had a big movement.

[00:39:47] And, and it's really nice to see because Alfredo, I mean, uh, Ramon Navarro saw all that from the sidelines when he was a kid. And it really inspired him to do, you know. The work that he's

[00:39:59] Tyler: doing now. [00:40:00] The work later on, right. Right. I mean, he had to, you know, they were fighting, uh, you know, the pulp mills, uh, down there, which were really bad.

[00:40:07] Like I remember during the festival days when I used to run the festival here, we showed a movie pulp and poo, and it was all about like how Chile and they're creating this pulp mill, which was, you know, pulp mills are really toxic for water and really bad for the environment. And it causes all sorts of issues.

[00:40:26] And plus it encourages the deforestation, you know, Uh, I remember when they shut, they shut that down, they got it to shut down actually, which is incredible. Uh, but yeah, like that guy, I mean, Ramon is like a, you know, a national hero there.

[00:40:40] patrick Trefz: For sure. I think right now he's fighting the, uh, artificial, like, salmon production in the southern fjords of, of Chile.

[00:40:47] What are

[00:40:47] Tyler: your thoughts on that?

[00:40:49] patrick Trefz: That's stinky ass fish, man. I don't want to eat it.

[00:40:53] Tyler: It's, it's interesting, right? Like, I've, I've, I've seen multiple [00:41:00] pieces and read, uh, on it, how, you know, some pro, some against. You know, where they're saying, hey, we need to feed people and we're, you know, Killing off all the, the, you know, the fish, fish stock, you know, we're, we're, we're just overfishing and there's no sustainable way to do it, to keep feeding the world, uh, fish.

[00:41:21] And so the farms are the, the solution to that to a certain extent, but the way those farms are managed, uh, you know, they're obviously it's for profit. So they cut corners wherever they can to save money and make it more profitable.

[00:41:37] patrick Trefz: Yeah, it's definitely a huge debate. I mean, they do it in Norway too. Yeah.

[00:41:40] And maybe their practice is a little better than the south of Chile. But at the end of it, it's, it's, it's like a, it's a B minus product that's really bad for the environment. Yeah. No matter how you, you know, put it. It's definitely, yeah, I, I don't, I don't want it. I'd rather eat like sardines before I eat fake salmon, you know.

[00:41:58] Tyler: Sardines are great, you [00:42:00] know. They're everywhere. Yeah, they're in, you know, particularly in Portugal, which is great. I want to ask now, Germany, how did you choose the recipe for your home country here?

[00:42:11] patrick Trefz: So I, I did like a traditional thing. Um, here, let me, let me open up the page. Yeah,

[00:42:19] Tyler: open it up. You want to read a passage?

[00:42:21] patrick Trefz: Oh, look, it opened up right on it.

[00:42:23] Tyler: Boom, there you go. It's pretty easy.

[00:42:25] Yeah.

[00:42:25] patrick Trefz: Yeah. But yeah, you know, it was interesting because as you can see in the photo, obviously the audience won't be able to see the photos, but my great grandma had a cigarette and flower store on Corfuerstendamm, which is like the Champs Elysees of Berlin.

[00:42:41] And, uh, so I had to pick a recipe, which I sort of kind of freestyled, but, um, I definitely used some, some, some pork cutlets, uh, some Brussels sprouts and some potatoes, and I've. Put them all on the, on the grill and fired it up outside. [00:43:00] And, uh, yeah, that was, uh,

[00:43:04] Tyler: did that have like a traditional. Like a memory for you?

[00:43:08] Was that something that was like personal? Like what would your family normally make you?

[00:43:13] patrick Trefz: My mom only cooked French style food. Oh, really? Yeah. We never ate this kind of food, but it kind of reminded me of like something like, like my grandpa would take me to this place called the Schlissel, the key. And it's like this old school, like, Brauhaus with the beer from like 1760 and these giant tables and, uh, and.

[00:43:32] And, um, I always get like the bacon pancake, you know, the bacon pancake. Yeah. That's pretty good. It's like a, like a dish you get in Germany, you know, because I didn't, I didn't want to like get into these like giant ass pork chops and just out of, out of novelty. And since it's such a big tradition within the German cuisine, that's what I brought like the pork chops and the Brussels sprouts and roasted potatoes in [00:44:00] there.

[00:44:02] It's something I probably eat like a couple of times a year, but I'm, it's, it's more like. When in Germany to kind of eat that stuff. Yeah, and and it's fun to make especially at the fireplace I like five six people over there. I think it was over the New Year's freezing cold outside We ate all this heavy food and had some beers with it and had a great time

[00:44:20] Tyler: See I would have been like I would have gone with currywurst

[00:44:24] patrick Trefz: Fuck

[00:44:26] That's so funny. It's so funny you mention that. Why you must have been to Berlin before. Yeah. . That's funny. Yeah.

[00:44:32] Tyler: But I mean, we were, you know, when we went to visit my dad, uh, dad's family in Cellar, right. Uh, about, uh, two years ago. Right. And it was a lot of Curry words. . That's crazy. Instead like, I love this stuff, but like, yeah, that's,

[00:44:47] patrick Trefz: you definitely like have to like, know the scene a little bit.

[00:44:50] Yeah. Right? Like, because people here, they don't know what currywurst is. Right? Yeah. Or like, anywhere in the world for that matter, but in Germany. But it's definitely that late night food, too, in Berlin. Yeah. [00:45:00]

[00:45:00] Tyler: I mean, honestly, when I left Germany, I was so backed up. You know? I was so backed up. I was just like, I'm bloated, and I have not had enough roughage.

[00:45:13] I've had a lot of currywurst, I've had bratwurst, I've had meat, Potatoes, coleslaw, potato, potato salad, you know, heaps of that. I was just like,

[00:45:24] patrick Trefz: yeah, I think, I think we always try to stay away from that. Uh, as a, as a family, you know, also growing up in, in Germany and in France, uh, you know,

[00:45:33] Tyler: was your mom French?

[00:45:35] patrick Trefz: No, but for some reason, like she was a Francophile, but for some reason, like her dad was pretty refined guy. And, and, and so as my dad, then, you know, we lived in Paris, my dad shot the photography for Vogue. And there was like, definitely the food scene there was obviously pretty refined. Uh, a lot more happening than than in Germany, but not to say that German food is bad and especially over the last, let's say, a couple [00:46:00] decades.

[00:46:00] It got super refined. It's very international. You get all kinds of food.

[00:46:04] Tyler: You big Turkish influence. It's a huge Turkish influence, right? Yeah. And,

[00:46:08] patrick Trefz: and, uh, Lebanese and, and, uh, you know, like Spanish and all that stuff. But what I wanted to do was not have, like, have something unique to Germany and, and that's definitely, that's why I picked a dish for Germany because, you know, it's like brussel sprouts and, you know, pork chops.

[00:46:26] I mean, that's like all day long.

[00:46:28] Tyler: Brussels sprouts for me. I love them. Yeah. Let me ask, like, what did your, did your, your father, is he still alive, by the way? He actually lives in San Sebastian. Oh, he does? Yeah. Oh, that's why you go there all the time. Or did you convince him to move there? He copied me. He copied you.

[00:46:49] Yeah, yeah. He's there with his, uh,

[00:46:50] patrick Trefz: with his young wife. And they're, like, hanging out. And yeah, he's having a good time.

[00:46:54] Tyler: Did you Do you have like a good relationship with him growing up and like his, [00:47:00] you know, his work obviously influenced you and, and, you know, pointed you in a certain direction. Like what, what was that kind of upbringing like?

[00:47:07] I'm kind of curious because reading it in the intro, it's like, yeah, like you, holy shit. Like your dad was a Vogue photographer, full studio. And I can't ima I gotta imagine, like, he would be like, Fuckin son is a surf photographer. At some point. Yeah,

[00:47:27] patrick Trefz: I mean, I just kinda, I did, I, I think I did some, like, You know, internships with other photographers, And I started photographing my friends skateboarding.

[00:47:38] Yeah. And, uh, you know, I always liked photography and, and I, at some point I asked my dad, I'm like, Hey, yo, like, what do you think, how can I be a photographer traveling the world without having this whole ballast of having a huge [00:48:00] overhead for a studio somewhere that costs a ton of money and just work indoors?

[00:48:05] Uh, that's not my bag. And he goes, well, if you figure out how to do it, let me know. And then I just, I just hit the road and I had side jobs. You know, I lived in Costa Rica for a couple of years. I had, I took, you know, photos through El Salvador and like. Um, all kinds of different places and, but they're always kind of like for me, but I knew I was kind of going somewhere with it.

[00:48:28] Yeah. If that answers your question. But, but the idea was to like maybe one day work for Surfer Magazine or something like

[00:48:35] Tyler: that. That was, so like when you were young, like how, where, where did surfing and skate and, and graffiti, all of that stuff like enter your world? Right. How did that come about? I'm

[00:48:45] patrick Trefz: curious.

[00:48:46] Dusseldorf is pretty close to Amsterdam. Yeah. And then we spent a lot of time in Amsterdam doing graffiti. Going surfing Havening and, Mm-Hmm. at the, at the, at the jetties. Yeah. Uh, we'd do, uh, yeah, get stoned and eat Indonesian food [00:49:00] and, and just hang out there for the weekends and just had a great time, you know, and that, that's how I really got into it, you know, I like, through skating, of course.

[00:49:07] Yeah. And skating was first, and then, and then, yeah. Spending time and in the Alps, snowboarding and, and just kind of was just like tri trilingual

[00:49:16] Tyler: doing that whole thing. Did you, did you ever. Did you engage with like the German surfing world, like the crew that's down in, you know, surfing the Eisbach where, where that to me is like kind of the heart of German surfing in some ways, you know?

[00:49:31] patrick Trefz: Right. It's funny because yeah, most people don't think Germany has an ocean, but you know, there's the North Sea, right? Yeah, by Zilt and stuff like that. There's definitely a surf community, but what was cool, you know, then I was traveling the world, right, at some point and then, and then full circle, right?

[00:49:47] Um, the late Sean Barney Barron Yeah. Got to travel with me to Germany. We, we somehow like got a, a free like VW tour rig, like SUV ride for like a whole month. And, uh, [00:50:00] traffic, the plan was to go all, all over Europe. So we started the Ice B Nice, nice. And this sort of, and so I filmed Barney like surfing it and we did like a little film for ESPN and then, uh, we continued our travels and um.

[00:50:14] What was the question again? Oh, it's asking like, do you, do you

[00:50:17] Tyler: identify, like, did you connect with like the surf scene in Germany? Did you like ever like, or do you even now like, like connect with that? Or do you feel like that's like almost a separate world for you?

[00:50:30] patrick Trefz: I think I'm more of like a. It's a nationalist, globalist, so I embrace it.

[00:50:35] Don't

[00:50:35] Tyler: say that to QAnon people, dammit. Who's that? They don't like the globalist agenda. Globalist, whatever.

[00:50:42] patrick Trefz: What's the other? Sorry. You're beyond me. Um, let's cut that out. But, uh, yeah, I, you know, it's like for me,

[00:50:57] yeah, off the record, [00:51:00] Yeah, it's, I think I embrace like surfing wherever I go. Yeah. But it's also sort of like a private act a little bit. Mm hmm. Even though I work for the magazine and, and, and stuff like that. It's, it's like a nice, sure you can surf the lane and, and, and, and surf with hundreds of people.

[00:51:14] That's fun too. And that, that always will happen. Yeah. But then, you know, These private moments that you have where you sneak away, right? And you have your own little session, maybe just yourself with the sharks or with a friend or something like that. That's pretty fun. Um, so, but to answer to all the way around, it's like.

[00:51:31] There's so many different aspects to surfing, right? And they are ever changing, right? And like, you know, sometimes you, I don't know, like, you know, surf in places with, um, Germans. Yeah.

[00:51:51] Tyler: You know, people, Germans.

[00:51:54] patrick Trefz: You know, what was it? Didn't Kidman do a song about it? Oh, maybe. I forgot. [00:52:00]

[00:52:01] Tyler: Like, you, you were staff at Surfer, and, and Surfer is now kind of defunct, there's like a, a zombie website, we call it, you know, where it's like, we don't know who's writing it or what, you know, but. You know, do you, like I sometimes feel like a lot of people like you and, and Andrew Kidman in some ways kind of, I feel like you've graduated from the surf world or the, the surf industry at the very least, you know, like it's, it's like you've kind of moved on and, and like, do you ever, do you ever wish that you could still be doing that or are you happy moving on from it?

[00:52:42] patrick Trefz: I mean, it was definitely a great time, you know, to, to be able to travel and, you know, on somebody's dime and, and you get to go to all these great places. But in a way for, you know, doing it for a couple of decades, yeah, kind of oversaturated myself with the whole surf stuff. [00:53:00] Yeah. And, um, and then also with the digital revolution.

[00:53:05] You, you see all this surfing stuff everywhere, left to right, Tik Tok, not that I'm on Tik Tok, but like, Instagram, wherever, the Facebook, it's, it's like an over, over fed situation. You're almost like that salmon in like the south of Chile, just like, can't breathe, right? And, um, and, and so as I was like laying the book out and scanning my stuff, I pretty much like, you know, out of all these pages and there it is, Maybe like 10, 12 surf photos and it's like hundreds and hundreds of images in there.

[00:53:38] I just, yeah, I just wanted to use it as like a little like salt and pepper, you know, and, and yeah, it's, it's, uh, and it's also, you know, maybe part of it too has to do that as you, you know, get an older, you, your interests shift and, and, uh, now I'm good. You know, I'm going to cook a lot of amazing food and, uh, [00:54:00] and, and not, and not, uh, and not surf and not, no surf more and not oversaturate the market with more surfing.

[00:54:09] Tyler: Do you still keep tabs on it on like the, the, the surf world or things of that nature?

[00:54:15] patrick Trefz: I think the only thing that's interesting out there, it's the surface journal a, they're still in print. Jamie Brissick stayed at my house last year and, uh, we were hanging for a while and they're doing an article, a print article about the book.

[00:54:26] So it's going to be exciting. So I think they're, they're kind of like some of the, like the last like dinosaurs. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it's, it's, you know, with like, like I said, all these digital, uh, you know, um, assets like Surfline and, you know, telling you where to surf every single time you like wake up in the morning.

[00:54:46] You're like, Oh, you should go surf here today. Like, yeah. Yeah. It's a crazy world, you know, it's like this whole digital world, but it's definitely a necessity to, to get your products out there. Right. I mean, like, like this, you know, like old [00:55:00] fashioned format of doing a book, like nobody really does it. Yeah.

[00:55:03] And, uh, and some people still do it, which, which is amazing, but it's, everything is going towards like. You know, like today I was getting run over by people that had like, like this, this woman had like two phones on her and she didn't even look up and she like almost bumped into it. It wasn't for me, like jumping over, she would have like slammed into me.

[00:55:23] And, and just that crazy digital revolution that's, you know, for our generation is pretty strange. But let's say. You were like 16 or 22. It's a whole different

[00:55:32] Tyler: world. Well, I'm sure like your dad probably felt the same way about the things that we, you know, you were doing or whatever, you know. Kid with his Walkman, you know, or whatever, you know, like.

[00:55:42] patrick Trefz: Oh, he actually gave me my first Walkman. Yeah. Now

[00:55:46] Tyler: all he does is listen to it all day long, you know. That's funny. But yeah, I remember

[00:55:51] patrick Trefz: I had like Adam and the Ants. In Paris, like walking down the street next to my stepmom, and like, like I'm like jamming this giant ass black [00:56:00] Walkman. That was pretty cool.

[00:56:03] Tyler: Do you, are you still shooting on film then? So you don't do any digital photography at all other than film, like, or video?

[00:56:12] patrick Trefz: I gotta say, for the book, just out of, uh, like most of the recipes that I cooked and photographed are probably like 90 percent iPhone. Yeah. Wow. Because I had so much film in my hair that it was driving me nuts.

[00:56:30] I just needed to produce. I couldn't like run back to the lab. And then it would have taken probably another whole year. The whole production of the book took three years. Wow. So yeah. Um, so I kind of went through the shortcut.

[00:56:42] Tyler: Were there more countries or more places represented in like, uh, as the, as you started the process and, and whittle it down, or was it like set from the get go and that was it?

[00:56:53] patrick Trefz: I think I found a little more. And then once I got like over

[00:56:58] Tyler: 40,

[00:56:59] patrick Trefz: I was like, man, I [00:57:00] gotta put the brakes on. Like, I didn't like, I spent some time, uh, working construction on the island of, uh, uh, like Jersey and Guernsey, Channel Islands. I was in Jersey working construction. I got some like funny ass pictures, like from like surfing out there in the winter and like working with the boys on this like big, like, uh, you know, gnarly construction project.

[00:57:19] And I had that one in there, a couple that kind of like landed on the editing table. Yeah, yeah. God,

[00:57:27] Tyler: I mean that's pretty cool. That was pretty good. I was straight out of high

[00:57:30] patrick Trefz: school. I was like 18 And

[00:57:31] Tyler: I have to ask this question though. What's with the New York dish? What are we chopped liver? Exactly. Like literally this dish is chopped liver for New York.

[00:57:43] New Jersey gets carbonara We get fucking chopped liver. What the fuck is up with that, man?

[00:57:49] patrick Trefz: What about, what about my version of the Cabanaras, the vegan version?

[00:57:52] Tyler: Oh, yeah, of course, but I know, it's vegetarian. Yeah.

[00:57:55] patrick Trefz: I made it a vegetarian. Josh Loyer, the famous surfer from Santa Cruz [00:58:00] wrote He was heckling me, he's like, what?

[00:58:05] What is egg? What is egg? Egg itarian? Egg ita

[00:58:12] Tyler: I only eat eggs. I'm egg itarian. It's egg tastic.

[00:58:19] patrick Trefz: I always, I always loved chopped liver. My, my, my grandpa used to make it. You know, and it obviously made it over the pond, like way back in the day and, and, and maybe it might be like an out, you know, like a, uh, out of fashion to produce, you know, that sort of a traditional meal.

[00:58:38] But, but for me, that, that brings back some good memories.

[00:58:40] Tyler: Well, it was interesting because I, I initially, when I saw the beginning of the chapter book and I saw chopped liver, I started to think. I thought differently than the chopped liver that you do. Like yours are like whole big chunks of, of liver chopped up.

[00:58:54] Right. I started to, my mind originally went to like, you know, kind of chicken liver, kind of [00:59:00] like with the schmaltz, you know, kind of more, you know, more Jewish kind of semi Romanian steakhouse style, you know, type of thing where you have your chopped chicken liver and you put the schmaltz on. Like the mousse.

[00:59:12] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like a pâté. That was like my thought and I was like, Oh, okay, because I was reading, like you started talking about the delicatessens and the, you know, the, the Jewish culture and how, you know, they were the purveyors of this whole kind of delicatessen culture, uh, that has, you know, I mean, obviously we have Katz's Deli and, you know, and all these other great places.

[00:59:33] Russ and Daughters. Russ and Daughters, you know, and I just

[00:59:35] patrick Trefz: had a malta bowl soup for breakfast. Oh, lovely. That sounds

[00:59:38] Tyler: good, actually. Um, but I mean, all those things. And then I was like, Oh, it's perfect. Regular liver. I was like a little like thrown off there for a second. Right.

[00:59:49] patrick Trefz: I think, I think my, my grandma would always make like, kind of more like livers with apple and onions and stuff like that.

[00:59:56] And that's kind of like, maybe that was my [01:00:00] own interpretation on, on how I should carry on this dish. Yeah, yeah. Because that was my childhood experience. But, you know, kind of like, as you see in the photograph, I put jalapenos in it, I put garlic in it, and like, you know, some like, uh, red pepper flakes, and give it a little more flavor.

[01:00:14] But, and all my friends were always like shaking their heads, I was like, what the fuck you eating here? You know? It's rich in

[01:00:22] Tyler: iron, people. Yeah, I, I, I

[01:00:25] patrick Trefz: remember, uh, Sancho was in town, you know? Yeah. And, uh, and my brother was in town, he happened to be in town too, in Santa Cruz. And I was making it in the morning and I'm like, Hey, I was all fired up.

[01:00:35] Hey, you guys want some of this? And like, Sanchez, Oh, no, it's not the right one for me. And then my brother's like, Oh, I'll pass. But, but I just love it. It's it, it, yeah. It's so.

[01:00:49] Tyler: Is there a place in New York you would go to get that dish? I wouldn't even know if it exists. You wouldn't even know if it exists?

[01:00:55] I mean, that's why,

[01:00:57] patrick Trefz: like, it was, you know, kind of like my own interpretation [01:01:00]

[01:01:00] Tyler: of this. I was like, where's the pizza, man? I was like, where's the pizza? Kidman's gonna be upset about no pizza. I know. Tell you what,

[01:01:06] patrick Trefz: and this might piss off some New Yorkans, but, uh, I don't consider pizza as being a food.

[01:01:13] Tyler: You don't consider it a food?

[01:01:14] No. What do you consider it? It's like a snack. A snack? Oh, I just thought you were going to be like, it's an art.

[01:01:20] patrick Trefz: Well, that's what you like to think. I do. No, it is an art form to make amazing pizza, right? Yeah. Yeah, well, you know

[01:01:26] Tyler: the story about Andrew Kidman, right? Right. And how he walked out of the pizza restaurant he worked at?

[01:01:32] Tell me. Oh, listeners, so if you are a fan of Andrew Kidman and his films and all that, this is, this guy is a fucking artist. Like, to the nth degree. He will not compromise. Like, Kidman is a non compromising person, right? Right. Like, he is. There's no, you can't really sway him. He's, he's got a direction and that's it.

[01:01:52] He's a stubborn ox. He's a stubborn, you know, he's a stubborn guy and he's a good friend. He's a great friend. But yeah, you know, he's, he's, he, you're not gonna move him [01:02:00]in, in a certain direction, like that's just, he's just gonna go the way he wants to go, but he loves to make pizza. Mm hmm. And, uh, John Frank told me this story.

[01:02:07] And he was telling me how Andrew, um, You know, was making pizza at a restaurant, apparently, and it was someone's birthday in the restaurant. So the the owner went to answer like, hey, could you make a Nutella pizza Nutella? Yeah, you know and Kidman was like nah, nah, mate. I ain't fucking i'm making a Nutella fucking pizza I'm not sacrificing my artistic integrity for that and he walked out I would have done the same You would have done the same, but it's a traditional Italian dish, actually, but not with fucking Nutella.

[01:02:45] Damn, what do we not? We don't like hazelnut spread.

[01:02:48] patrick Trefz: I love Nutella, but on different occasions, nice stuff to get kinky with.

[01:02:54] Tyler: Oh, do we want to go into that story now? No, Shiza games.[01:03:00]

[01:03:01] patrick Trefz: No, but, uh, No, I love, I love a pizza, but for me, it's like my neighbors at, uh, in Santa Cruz, they have their own pizza oven. Yeah. They got their own dough and everything. Yeah. Classic. He's from the East Coast and makes amazing pizza. But the problem is in order to fill up on pizza, you got to eat a ton of pizza.

[01:03:19] Yeah. And then kind of buckle it over for a couple hours. Right. Yeah. Yeah. The calories

[01:03:24] Tyler: will get you too. The cheese and everything. Right. Yeah. There's some

[01:03:27] patrick Trefz: bombs in there, right? So I like to mix it up. If I make a pizza dish, maybe I make like a tuna fish salad on the side, like maybe some other dishes. So you kind of have like salty, sweet, you know, you have the balance.

[01:03:41] So it's not just all like dough. If you put it into perspective, that's a lot of dough you put

[01:03:47] down.

[01:03:47] Tyler: That's a lot of dough, I know. I eat a lot of pizza, you know. That's why you're so big, bro. I know. Dough boy over here. I'm all, ouch, man. Tee hee!

[01:03:57] Ow!

[01:03:58] Tyler: Right. No, I love pizza, but

[01:03:59] patrick Trefz: it's [01:04:00] like, yeah, it's, it's From start to finish, I can't eat it just as, you know, it's like, it's like having three bagels.

[01:04:07] Yeah. It's like the equivalent, you know?

[01:04:09] Tyler: Yeah, yeah, it's true. Now, I'm gonna ask, like, one last question here. Um, what, if there was one dish in this book that you would have as, like, your last meal, which dish would that be?

[01:04:25] patrick Trefz: Oh, man. Um, let me look through the book for a second.

[01:04:31] Tyler: I mean, for me, the Argentine tomahawks, I think, could be Oh, they're pretty amazing.

[01:04:36] Yeah, that'd look pretty good with the chimichurri. I know, I eat those once a week. And you are clearly not a vegetarian. Clearly not. Or eggitarian. Don't be eggy. Don't be

[01:04:51] patrick Trefz: eggy. Um, here's this, the venison carpaccio.

[01:04:57] Tyler: Where is this from?

[01:04:59] patrick Trefz: So a friend of mine, [01:05:00] um, he has a bow and arrow kind of stuff, and he goes to Big Sur, and he gets like the permit to shoot.

[01:05:06] And, uh, he came up with this, this, we had a party at my house and for somehow he had this brought this big chunk of meat and we tried to figure out what to do with it. And I think what happened was, um,

[01:05:32] I, it was, it was for the Alaska chapter. Yeah. And, and, you know, I was like looking at the food culture in Alaska and you can either go like. You can go various ways, but I wanted something that wasn't, that kind of went back like a nod, like to the, um, original, how do you say it best? The original, um,

[01:05:55] Tyler: like Native American kind of culture.

[01:05:58] Yeah.

[01:05:58] patrick Trefz: Like give a nod back to the, um, [01:06:00] native Americans and, and have for, for vitamin and take. Mm-Hmm. , back in the day, they, they'd eat a lot of raw meat, right? Mm-Hmm. . And that's obviously like, okay, you have this chunk of venison, right? Dangerous. How, how are you gonna do it? How are you gonna eat it? Right?

[01:06:13] Um. So it tastes, I mean, whatever, like, and so it was really inspired by the, uh, Cappaccio, Italian style. So we sliced up the venison Cappaccio. I mean, the, uh, we, we, we sliced up the venison in the Cappaccio and a super thin, my friend just like hunted it, like shot the, uh, deer like a couple of days before.

[01:06:36] And yeah, we just had a wonderful dinner and put some capers and arugula salad. And then it was, it was amazing.

[01:06:44] Tyler: Well, then that's going to be your last dish. That is your last meal.

[01:06:49] patrick Trefz: It kind of goes with the death of the animal too. Yeah, yeah. Like, you kind of honor that.

[01:06:55] Tyler: Now, where can our listeners find this book?

[01:06:58] Where can they get it? Where can [01:07:00] they find you as well?

[01:07:02] patrick Trefz: So, it's, uh, first and foremost, patricktreves. net

[01:07:07] Tyler: Mm hmm.

[01:07:08] patrick Trefz: And then obviously on Instagram, everybody else is on Instagram, And then Powerhouse Books is my publisher, and globally it's available through Simon Schuster, they're the distributor.

[01:07:22] Tyler: And, uh, is it available now?

[01:07:24] patrick Trefz: It's available now, yeah. It's at bookshops.

[01:07:27] Tyler: Listeners, go check out Ode to Travel. It's a absolutely stunning book. Um, I'm definitely going to be cooking a lot of the meals that are in here. I'm really excited about it. And I love, I love books like these. These are just things that have multi purpose, you know, it's a bit of a cookbook.

[01:07:45] It's a bit of a photo book. It's a storybook. Um, it's going to make a great gift to people for your family and friends. And uh, it's, it's really stunning. And uh, you know, obviously, you know, Patrick does incredible work and it's [01:08:00] always great to support great artists. Uh, so we're really excited and, uh, you know, go, go check it out.

[01:08:06] Go check out Patrick's website, go check out his Instagram. And, uh, yeah, uh, really appreciate you all listening. And Patrick, really appreciate you coming on and discussing the book. Thank you so much.

[01:08:18] patrick Trefz: Yeah. Thanks so much, Tyler. Good to see you again. And

[01:08:20] Tyler: always a pleasure.

[01:08:21] patrick Trefz: I know it was fun to hang out with you.

[01:08:23] Tyler: Yeah. And, uh, gotta give a quick shout out to Joe, our engineer here and, uh, you know, the new stand studio at Rockefeller center where we were recording, um, awesome always to be here. And, uh, yeah, we hope to see you all, uh, down the line and don't forget to check out swell season, go to swell season, surf radio.

[01:08:42] com or at Instagram. And, uh, yeah, don't forget to hit like, and subscribe on our, uh, wherever you listen your podcasts and we'll see you next time. You.

[01:08:53] You. You.

[01:08:54] patrick Trefz: Ciao for now. Ciao for now. Um, you know, one thing we didn't talk about and I don't think it [01:09:00] matters because it's a, not a visual thing, but one of the, the most interesting parts for me to creating this book was kind of like going off the traditional format.

[01:09:09] All my other books are really clean, you know, and like creating these collages, I mean, you can't tell, but like collages like this big, like putting like, you know, whatever

[01:09:21] Tyler: you still recording. Um, Yeah, we got that. I mean, it goes against your German, you know, everything must be in the right way.

[01:09:30] patrick Trefz: You know, who is a big influence was actually a Swiss German is by the name of Robert Frank.

[01:09:35] Ah, yes. Very well known for his, you know, New York City photographs. Totally amazing collages.

[01:09:41] Tyler: I love the collage work on this. It is really beautiful and it is really fun. I love also like your graffiti kind of notes throughout, uh, are really, really gorgeous too. So I mean, it's a, it's really stunning book.

[01:09:56] Uh, it's really beautiful and I'm just super stoked to, to [01:10:00] be able to have a copy. So thank you again.

[01:10:02] patrick Trefz: Yeah. Yeah. Really stoked. Thanks so much.

[01:10:06] Tyler: Thank you.